Other Words Than Ours

Front matter

THE

PLMA1ITY OF WORLDS,

' Lo, these are parts of His ways , but how little a portion is heard of Him ? the thunder of ,His power who can understand ?' J<* ***' 14

Contents

CHAP. PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

I. WHAT THE EARTH TEACHES US .7

Introduction

ASTRONOMY and GEOLOGY owe much of their charm to the fact tjiat they suggest thoughts of other forms of life than thjjse with which we are familiar. Geology teaches us of days when this earth was peopled with 'strange creatures such as now are not found upon its surface, We turn our thoughts to the epochs when $ose monsters throve and multiplied; and picture to ourselves the appearance which our earth then presented. Strange forms of vegetation clothe the scene which the mind's eye dwells upon. The air is heavily laden with moisture to^ nourish the abundant flora; hideous regtiles crawl over their slimy domain, battling with each otkr or with the denizens of the forest ; huge bat-like creatures sweep through the dusky twilight which constituted the primeval day ; weird monsters pursue their prey amid tKfe ocean depths: and we" forget, as we dwell upon the strange forms B which existed in those long past .ages, that the scene now presented by the earth is no less wonderful, and that the records of our time may perhaps seem one day as perplexing as we now find those of the geological eras*

Astronomy has a kindred charm. We cannot indeed examine the actual substance of living creatures existing upon other celestial bodies ; we cannot even picture to ourselves their appearance or qualities ; and only in a few instances can we even form any conception of the conditions under which they live. But we see proofs on all sides, that besides the world on which we live, other worlds exist as well cared for and as nobly planned. Nay, we see globes by the side of which our earth would seem but as a tinj- speck; we trace these globes as they sweep with sjately motion on their appointed courses ; we watch the return af day on the broad expanse of their surface ; and we see" systems of satellites which are suspended as lights for their nocturnal skies. "We further find that our sun j^ matched by a thousand thousand suns amid the immeasurable depths of space ; and the mind's eye pictures other worlds like those which course around the sun, travelling in stately ofbits around his fellow luminaries.

Long, however, before the wonders of modern astronomy had been revealed to us, men of inquiring minds seem to have been led, as by an irresistible instinct, to examine into th^resemblance which may exist between our world and other worlds surrounding it on every

INTRODUCTION. 3

hand. It has not ben the mere fanciful theoriser who has discussed such questions, but men of the highest eminence in science. In long past ages Anaximander and Pythagoras studied the subject of other worlds than ours; later, such men as Huygfc-ens, Galileo, and Newton have dwelt upon the same interesting theme ; while, in our own day, Whewell and Brewster have employed their scientific and dialectic skill in defending rival theories upon the subject.

Undoubtedly a large share of the interest with which the question of other worlds than ours has been regarded, is due to the fact that, as the science of astronomy has progressed, the subject has continually presented itself under new aspects. The question, in fact, is one of those which are ever new and ever old. It has all tha charm belonging to subjects which men i all ages have delighted to discuss, while it is associated in the most intimate manner with the progress of modern science. With what a charm of novelty, for instance, the discussion between Whewell and Brewster invested the subject. No doubt a large portion of that charm was due to the personal qualities of the 'two disputants. Yet, despite the skill with which each of them presented the arguments belonging to his own* side of the controversy, few could have read with any interest a discussion on a subject so well worn, had it not been that the arguments were drawn from the discoveries which had recently been made by astronomers. Nor was it Uninteresting to notice how these discoveries at once seemed to acquire B 2

4 OTSER WORLDS THAN OURS.

a new interest when they were associated with the subject of life in other worlds. Facts which had attracted little notice at the time of their discovery, at once assumed importance, when it was seen how they bore^on the rival views which Whewell and Brewster

n

were enforcing. The interest with which the public regard many of those discoveries may, indeed, be said to date from the controversy between those eminent men.

No very Ipng interval, if we count by years, has elapsed since the e Plurality of Worlds,' and ' More^ Worlds than One ' were written. Yet so rapidly has science progressed, that already the subject of life in other worlds has assumed a new aspect. Arguments vrtrich were hypothetical thirty years ago* have either become certainties or been disproved. Doubtful points have been cleared up ; a new meaning has been fourni even in those facts which were well known to both the r disputants; and lastly, a new mode of research has been devised, which has not only revealed a number of surprising facts, but promises to work yet greater marvels in the years which are to come.

One is thus invited to discuss anew a subject* which but a few years since seemed thoroughly sifted by the inquiries of the Jwo eminent philosophers I have named. We stand in a position much more favourable for the formation of just views than that from which Whewell and Brewster surveyed the planetary and stellar systems. Never, since men first explored the celestial depths, has a series of more startling dis-

INTRODUCTION. 5

coveries rewarded th# labours of astronomers and physicists than during the past few years. Unhopedfor revelations have been made on every side. Analogies the most interesting have brought the distant orbs of heaven into close relationship with our* own earth or with the central luminary of the planetary scheme. And a lesson has been taught us which bears even, more 'significantly on our views respecting the existence of other worlds : we have learned to recognise within the solar system, and within the wondrous galaxy of which our sun is a constituent orb, a variety of structure and a complexity of detail, of which but a few years ago astronomers had formed but the most inadequate conceptions.

My objeat, then, in the pages which follow, is not solely to establish the thesis that there are other worlds than ours, but to present, in a new and I hope interesting light, the marvellous discoveries which have rewarded recent scientific researches. Judged merely according *o their direct significance, these discoveries are well calculated to excite our admiration for the wonderful works of God in his universe, and for the far-reaching scope of the mental powers which He has given to his creature Man. But it is when we consider recent discoveries* in their relation to the existence of other worlds, when we attempt to form a conception of the immense varieties of the forms of life corresponding to the innumerable varieties of cosmical structure disclosed by modern researches, that^we recognise the full significance of those discoveries. Although the growth of our knowledge is 'ever accompanied by a proportional growth of our estimate of the unknown, we seem already entitled to say that we have

Come on that which is, and caught The deep pulsations of the world, JEoman music, measuring out The steps of time.

CHAPTEE I.

WHAT OUE EARTH TEACHES US.

BEFORE proceeding to consider the various circumstances under which the worlds or systems which surround us appear to subsist, it may be well to inquire how far we have reason to conclude, from the consideration of our own earth and its inhabitants, that the Qreator has designed the orbs which exist throughout ^pace for the support of living creatures.

It would not be just to argue directly from the fact that the earth is inhabited to the conclusion that the other planets are inhabited also, nor thence to the confusion that other stars have, like our sun, their attendant worlds, peopled with various forms of lEe. An analogy founded on a single instance has no logical force. And it is doubtful whether we have not, in the moon, an instance whidh would as effectually serve to support a^ directly opposite conclusion. It seems all but certain, as we shall presently have occasion to show, that no part of the moon's globe is inhabited by living creatures. Certainly she is inhabited by none which bear the least resemblance tcP those existing on our earth. Thus it might fairly be urged, that since one of tue two orbs respecting:- which we know most appears to be uninhabited, there remains no probable argument in favour of the view that other orbs besides our earth are the abode of living creatures.

Yet the earth in reality supplies an argument of great force, when we consider the r evidence she presents in another light. The mere fact that this world is inhabited is, as we have seen, little ; but we shall find that the way in which life is distributed over the earth's surface is full of significance.

If we range over the earth, from the arctic regions to the torrid zone, we find that none of the peculiarities which mark the several regions of our globe suffice to banish life from its surface. In the bitter cold within tl\.e arctic circles, with their strange alternations of long summer days and long winter nights, their c frozen seas, perennial ice, and scanty vegetation, life flourishes in a hundred various forms. On the other hand, the torrid zone, with its blazing heat, its long-continued droughts, its strange absence of true seasonal changes, and it$ trying alternations of oppressive calms and fiercely raging hurricanes, nourishes even more numerous and more various forms of life than either of the great temperate zones. Around mothitain summits as in the depths of the most secluded valleys, in mid-$cean as in the arid desert, in the air as beneath the surface of the earth, we find a myriad forms of life.

But this is far from being all. Various as are the physical habitude which we encounter as we travel over the surface of our globe, we are able to trace the

WHAT OUR EARTH TEACHES TO. 9

existence of other varieties even more remarkable. The geologist has been able to turn back a few leaves of the earth's past history, and though the pages have been defaced and mutilated by Time's unsparing hand, he is yet able to read in them of many strange vicissitudes to which the Continents and oceans of our globe have been exposed. But, far back as he can trace the earth's history, and already he counts her age by millions of years,* he finds no evidence of an epoch when life was absent from her surface. Nay, if he reads aright the mysterious lesson which the blurred letters teach him, he is led to believe that, at the most distant epoch to which his researches have extended, there was the same wonderful variety in the forms of life as at the Dresent day. He can, indeed, find the spattered remains of only a few of those old-world creatures ; but he recognises, in those which have been preserved, the clearest evidence that thousands of others must have existed around them. He knows, that of a million creatures now existing, scarcely one will leave to future ages any record of its Existence ;

* The results of the recent deep-sea dredging expeditions, though they have an obvious bearing on the question of the relative ages of the various strata of our earth, dp not appreciably affect our estimate of the range of time during which this world has been the abode of living creatures. cWe can no longer assume that adjacent rooks which, differ in character are necessarily different in age : but we have enough evidence from superimposed strata, to prove the enormous antiquity of the earlier formations. The researches of Dr. Carpenter and his fellow-workers have a most important bearing, however, on the subject of the present chapter, and supply a more forceful analogy, nj^rhaps, than Sny dwelt on in the text, in favour of the view that, under the widest varieties of condition, Nature may be most prodigal of life.

lie sees wSole races vanishing from the earth, leaving no trace behind them ; * and he is thus able to form an estimate of the enormous extent by which the creatures and races of which he can learn nothing must have outnumbe/ed those whose scattered remains attest their former existence upon the earth.

Here, then, we have analogies which there is no mistaking. We see, that not only is Nature careful to fill all available space with living forms, but that no time over which our researches extend has found her less prodigal of life. We see that, within very wide limits, she has a singular power of adapting living creatures to the circumstances which surround them. Nor is this lesson affected like the general lesson drawn from the mere fact of the earth's being: inhabited by anything we can learn from the aspect of our satellite. For the arguments against the presence of living creatures on the moon are founded on the evidence 'we have that the physical habitudes of that orb are outside the limits wide as they seem to be within Ts&ich Nature can effect the adaptation we have spoken of.

In fact, if we consider rightly, the argument which has been drawn from the moon's^presumed unfitness to be the abode of living creatures, is so founde<J on terrestrial analogies as to leave the contrary argument unaffected. We have to assume that the argument drawn from the analogy of the earth is forceful before we can form any opinion at all respecting the moon's habitability. And in any case, no argument can be

WHAI OUR EARTH TEACHES US* drawn from the moon% unfitness for the supp against the view that where orbs fit for the life exist, there Nature has provided such classes of living creatures as are adapted to the special habitudes of those orbs.

The moon teaches us, however, that the Creator has not intended all the celestial bodies to be at all times habitable. The sun also teaches the same lesson. And it is necessary that we should consider how far the evidence presented by our own earth may serve to elucidate this teaching. "We shall see, as we proceed, thj-t terrestrial analogies afford a very sure guide in the midst of many perplexities which the study of the worlds around us presents to our contemplation.

Let us jtrace out the various degrees of fitness or*unfitness for^he support of particular forms of life, which we recognise in various regions of our earth.

Often, where there exists so slight a difference between two regions of the earth that, to ordinary 'observation, it would appear that the forms of life existing in one should be well adapted to the other als6, we yet find that this is not the case. Some minute peculiarity of soil, or climate, or vegetation, will render one region absolutely uninhabitable by a race which lives and thrives in the other. Darwin mentions several instances in which an apparently insignificant change in the circumstances under which a particular race has thriven, and sometimes a change which does not, at first sight, appear to be in the least" connected with the well-being of the race, has led to its gradual disappearance. And it seems demonstrated,, that even the slow processes of change to which every part of the earth is subjected, would suffice to destroy a number of the races now subsisting on its surface, were the characteristics o/ those races unalterable. But as the physical habitudes of their abode slowly Change, the various races of living creatures slowly change also, so as to adapt themselves continually to the varying circumstances under which they live.

The lesson taught us by this peculiarity is very obvious. On the one hand, we see that it would be by no means sufficient to indicate a general resemblance between the physical habitudes of our earth and those of some far distant planet, in order to prove that that planet is the abode of living creatures resembling those on our own earth. But, on the other hand, we are taught that the existence of differences sufficient to render a distant planet an unsuitable abode for such creatures as we are familiar with, cannot force upon us the conclusion that the planet is uninhabited. On the contrary? the circumstance we have been considering teaches us, that such differences as would suffice to banish life of certain kinds are insufficient to banish life of all kinds, or even to render less abundant the forms of life which exist under those changed conditions.

And now we may proceed a step farther. On our earth we find differences of climate and of physical habitudes generalfy, which are much more important than those hitherto dealt with. We see that not only

WHAT OUR EARTH TEACBE8 US. 1$

would certain races ]&rish in the long run, if removed from their own abode to other parts of the earth, but that, in some instances, the process of destruction would be very rapid indeed. If we were to remove the polar bears from their arctic fastnesses to tropical, ojc even to the warmer parts of temperate regions, a very few years would see the end of the whole race. The races inhabiting steppes and prairies would quickly perish, if removed to mountain regions. Those accustomed to a moisture-laden air and abundant vegetation would not survive long if removed to the desert.

In some races, indeed, we find a power of enduring such changes which very far exceeds that possessed by other races. Those creatures, for example, which man has domesticated seem capable of enduring a variety of climate* or of circumstances, which would destroy the seemingly more vigorous races which have not been subdued to the yoke of man.

Even man himself, however, though he possesses in an unrivalled degree the power of enduring in safety the most complete change of climate, scene, and circumstanceSj is yet limited, in a certain sense, in his power of migration. The Englishman, for example, can endure the fiercest heat of the tropics or the

* Humboldt tells us, that * the pliability of the organisation of those animals which man has subjected to his sway, enables horses, cows, and other species of European origin, to lead for a time an amphibious life, surrounded by crocodiles, water-serpents, and manatees. When the rivers return again to their beds, the horsey roam m tttfe savannah, which is then spread over with a fine odoriferous grass ; and enjoy, as in their native climate, the renewed vegetation of spring/ bitterest cold of arctic and antarctic regions. But he cannot safely attempt to found true colonies in every part of the earth's surface. Our countrymen in India must send their children to be reared in England, if they wish them to grow tip strong and vigorous. There can be little doubt that r if a thousand men and women from this country were to settle in certain parts of India (not at any time intermarrying with the natives), the colony would have disappeared within a couple of centuries.

Here we have a second degree of unfitness, according to which certain countries would quickly become depopulated, if supplied with inhabitants from certain other countries. We are taught the same lesson as before, but in a more striking manner. We see that differences exist within the confines of our own earth, which render particular countries absolutely uninhabitable by particular races, insomuch that though the individual might survive, the race itself would quickly perish. And we see, on the other hand, that these countries are not uninhabited, or even less fully peopled with living creatures, than seemingly more fortunate abodes.

Now, if some impassable barrier prevented the inhabitants of one country from visiting others, while yet it was possible to learn something of the conditions prevailing in other regions, how readily the conclusion might be reached, that some at least of those inaccessible regions mftst be wholly uninhabited, simply because their physical habitudes appeared unsuited

WHAT OUR EARTH TEACHES US. IS

to the wants of the)* only creatures with which the observer was familiar. Who would believe, for example, that men can live, and not only live but thrive and multiply, in the frost-bound regions within the Arctic circle, if travellers had not visited the Esquimaux races, and witnessed* the conditions under which they subsist ? Again, if we knew nothing of India, and some one pictured to us the intense heat of the Indian sun, the strange alternations of weather which replace to the Indian the seasonal changes we are familiar with, and all the other circumstances which render trpjpical regions so different from our English home, who could believe that, amidst those seemingly unendurable vicissitudes, there are races of men that thrive and, multiply, even as our people in their temperate zon ? *

Therefore, in examining the circumstances of other worlds than ours, it will not be sufficient to prove that certain orbs would obviously not be habitable by the races subsisting on the earth, in order to enforce the conclusion that no living creatures subsist at all upon their surface.

Yet another step farther, however. There are

* Perhap* the most striking instance of man's power of living under circumstances seemingly the most unfavourable, is to be found in the fact, that though the strongest traveller is affected seriously by the rarity of the air at great elevations, yet races of men live and thrive in Potosi, Bogota, and Quito, and to use the words of a modern writer that bull-fights should be possible at an elevation a which Sauss^ure hardly had energy to consult his instruments, and where even his guides fainted as they tried to dig a small hole in the snow.

regions of the earth where the^ individuals of races helonging to other regions quickly perish. The air of our own England is death to many creatures. And, indeed, there is not a spot in the whole world which would, not be fatal in a hrief space to many animals and plants belonging to other regions. Yet each spot, though thus fatal to certain races, is inhabited by numbers of others, which live and thrive upon its surface.

Here, then, is our third lesson. We are taught by the analogy of our earth, that it is not even sufficient to show that a planet would be an abode quickly fatal to all the living creatures subsisting on our glob e^ to prove that it is therefore uninhabited.

But we have yet a stronger argument to touch on. There are regions of our earth to which creatures from other regions cannot be removed without being immediately killed. The warm-blooded animal perishes, if placed for a brief space under water. The fish perishes, if placed for a brief space on the earth.* What could be more wonderful to us, were we not familiar withr the fact, ihan that there are living creatures within the depths of that ocean, beneath whose surface we ourselves, and the land creatures we are familiar with, cannot remain alive many mifhites? If fishes could reason, how could they believe that creatures can live in comfort in that element which is death to them ?

* Perhaps the fact that there are certain kinds of fish which can not only hye o\t of -water, tyt can travel across the dry land or clnnh trees, affords an even more striking instance of Nature's power of adapting creatures to the circumstances which surround them.

WHAT OUR EARTH TEACHES US. 17

Yet land and river ad sea are alike peopled with, living creatures, each race as well adapted as its fellows to the circumstances in which it is placed.

We are taught, then, yet another lesson. We see that even though we could prove that every living creature on this earth Vould at once perish if removed to another orb, yet we cannot thence conclude that that orb is 'uninhabited. On the contrary, the lesson conveyed by our earth's analogy leads to the conclusion that many worlds may exist, abundantly supplied with living creatures of many different species, where yet every form of life upon our earth bird, beast, or iish, reptile, insect, or animalcule would perish in a few moments.*

There remains yet a last lesson to be drawn from terrestrial analogies. On the earth there are regions where no form of life exists or can exist Within the darning crater of the volcano, or in the frozen heart of the iceberg, no living creature has its being. Yet even

I might add to the instances here cited, many others which seem even more striking I have already referred to Dr Carpenter's discovery, that in the depths of the Atlantic, where the pressure of the sea, is so enormous that no ordinary instruments can resist its effects, where it had even been thought that no light can penetrate, there are myriads of living creatures having even organs of vision "We know, too, that in strong acids which would instantly kill bird, beast, fish, or insect placed within them, tfcere exist and thrive minute creatures, adapted by Nature to the strange conditions in which they are placed. Even in the bowels of the earth and in the very neighbourhood of active volcanoes, we find the Volcano-fish existing in such countless thousands, that when they are from time to time vomited forth by the erupting mountain, their bodies are strewn over enormous regions, and as they pujpefy beneath file sun's rays, spread pestilence and disease among the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts.

C here Nature proves to us that^he great end and aim of all her working is to afford scope and room for new forms of life, or to supply the wants of those which already exist. The volcano will die out, and the scen,e of its activity will one day become the abode of myriads of living creatures who would have perished in a moment in its consuming fires. The iceberg will melt, and its substance will once again be" peopled with busy life. But this is little. It is the work of which volcano and iceberg are the signs, which most significantly teaches us what is Nature's real aim. The volcano is the index of those busy subterranean forces which are remodelling the earth's frame, slowly changing the level of the land, making continents of oceans and oceans of continents, preserving and^vivifying all things, while all things seem to suffgr a gradual destruction. The iceberg, too, has its work in remodelling and fashioning the surface of new continents". But it exhibits also the action of Nature for the present benefit of the creatures which exist upon the ear$i. It acts an important part in the formation and maintenance of the system of oceanic circulation on which the welfare of land creatures and water creatures so largely depends. And so $f a multitude of other phenomena, which appear at first sight signijjcant rather of the destructive than of the life-preserving character of Nature. The tornado and the thunder-storm, the earthquake and the volcanonay, even the dreaded returns of plagfue and pestilence, have each a more

WHAT OUR EARTH TEACHES US. ig

powerful influence by f&r towards the preservation than they have towards the destruction of life.

We see, then, that even when we can prove that an orb in space is so circumstanced that no life could by any possibility exist upon its surface ; if it were the scene of a fierce and destructive turmoil, one moment of which would suffice to destroy every living creature now existing upon the earth ; if its whole mass were heated to a degree a thousandfold more intense than that of the fiercest heat we know of; if its surface were bound in a cold compared with which our arctic frosts wogld seem like tropical heat ; or even if the most rapid alternation of these extremes took place upon and within it ; even then we could not conclude that the principal purpose for which the Almighty had created it had not taen the support of life, either in long past ages, or in ages yet to come. And lastly though we could safely assert of any celestial object, that neither now, nor at any past or future time, could it serve as *he abode of living creatures, yet we are led by terrestrial analogies to the conclusion that it has yet been created to support life in other ways. So that those very orbs, of which it seems safest to assert that they are, have ever been, and must ever remain uninhabited,* speak to us, no less strongly than those which appear best suited for habitation, of the existence of other worlds than ours.

c 2

20 OTBJBR WORLDS THAN OUJZS.

Chapter II. What We Leakn From The Sun

I DO notpropose to dwell in this chapter on the views which have been propounded respecting the sun's habitability. It is not merely that I regard those views as too bizarre and fanciful to find place in a serious consideration of the subject I am dealing with, nT>r that the progress of recent observation kas rendered them utterly untenable, but that, in fact^they do not belong to what the sun teaches us. I wish to consider only the real evidence which the sun affords respecting the scheme of creation, to dwell upon the purposes which Je subserves in the economy of the -solar system, and thence to deduce a lesson respecting those other suns scattered throughout space, which we call the fixed stars.